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Washington Paid Sick Leave – Spring Update

On Behalf of | Apr 18, 2017 | Business And Corporate Law

As previously reported, Initiative 1433 was approved by Washington voters in the last statewide election, and as a result, Washington employers must permit certain employees to accrue at least one-hour paid sick leave for every forty hours worked beginning January 1, 2018.

The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (“Department”) solicited feedback on the new law from interested stakeholders, and multiple employers and associations provided written comments on issues raised, as well as some proposed solutions. The Department has now issued draft proposed rules to implement the law, scheduled a meeting for Monday, April 24, 2017, 9:00 am – 11:00 am, to discuss the draft rules, and solicited further feedback. If you are interested in attending or calling into this Monday’s meeting, you can participate online, by phone, or in person.

Feedback to the Department’s draft rules is due April 28. The Department intends to revise the proposed rules based on this feedback, circulate an updated draft during the week of May 8th, and seek further stakeholder feedback by May 31. The Department will then draft administrative policies for the new law and hold public hearings throughout Washington this summer, with a final deadline for stakeholder comments on the proposed policies of September 1, 2017.

We will post a blog article, after the Department circulates updated rules in early May, to update you with the current status of the rules. You can find further information about the Department’s paid sick leave rule-making process, including the current draft proposed rules at: https://lni.us.engagementhq.com/.

There is still an opportunity to weigh in on these important rules.

If you have concerns about paid sick leave that are not addressed by the current draft rules, please provide comments to the Department or contact us so we can provide comments on your behalf.